Clark Donnelly and Debbie Erstad Donnelly are shown with their 2-year-old triplets and their 3-year-old Little Free Library outside their St. Paul duplex on Oct. 17, 2016. Their book station has an upper compartment for adult books and a lower compartment for children’s books. Someone recently cleaned out the book nooks, a problem that is being shared by Little Free Library owners all over town. (Pioneer Press: Julio Ojeda-Zapata)

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But about two months ago she noticed her little library had been cleaned out, which was unusual. This has since happened more than a dozen times. Gladhill restocked each time, but soon found her large inventory of giveaway volumes in her Summit-University residence depleted.

“Our Little Free Library has been totally pillaged,” she lamented on Facebook this week. “I think we’re going to close it down for awhile, which bums me out.”

Gladhill and Rhone plastered a sign on the library that reads, in part: “We really regret doing this. Our Little Free Library has, up until now, brought much joy to us. We love to read and share the gift of reading with others.”

Patrick Rhone and Bethany Gladhill are shown with their daughter Beatrix and their two dogs alongside their Little Book Library in St. Paul on Oct. 18, 2016. Thieves have cleaned out the book cubbie more than a dozen times in recent weeks. (Pioneer Press: Julio Ojeda-Zapata)

Gladhill hasn’t been the only Little Free Library owner to face this problem — though hers is unusual in its frequency. Across the Twin Cities, others who have put up free-book stations have seen them emptied — sometimes repeatedly — in recent months.

It’s a mystery who is doing this, in many cases, and why — though there is speculation the books are being stolen to be sold.

Rhone has, in his own case, confirmed this by subtly marking books and later finding the volumes on the shelves of local used-book stores.

A PROBLEM ALL OVER

St. Paul-area community pages on Facebook and Nextdoor are rife with reports of Little Free Library theft — though few of these appear to be filtering over to the St. Paul Police Department.

“I haven’t heard rumblings about these book dispensaries being raided,” said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a department spokesman. But “sometimes these might go unreported since people are (running the little libraries) on a volunteer basis.”

The thefts are not a Twin Cities-specific problem. In other U.S. cities, Little Free Library theft flares up with some regularity. As in the Twin Cities, these are not routine cases of one or two books being removed at a time — which is the whole point of the little libraries — but of the cubbies being left bare, sometimes over and over.

“It does happen,” said Bol, formerly of St. Paul. “Typically what happens is the community steps up and gets really mad.”

Such community action and outrage is being felt here, to an extent.

One Facebook user said someone cleared out her library near St. Clair and Hamline avenues recently, leaving “the door flopped open.” She added, “I posted about it, and many neighbors responded by coming over and refilling my library.”

Another St. Paul resident wrote that her library “was completely cleared out earlier this summer. The nice thing is I posted my sorrow and disbelief on a few community Facebook pages and people really stepped up to fill it with new books (and then some!). That made me feel great!!”

WHAT TO DO

Bol’s 3-year-old nonprofit, known as the Little Free Library organization, is ready to assist. When informed of a book-cubby owner who has had such a theft, the organization will typically donate a boxful of books, and throw in placard for the station along with a stamping kit to clearly identify books’ charitable origin.

Zach Wegner of the Little Book Library organization shows off the placard the organization gives to each of its registered members for use on their neighborhood free-book cubbies. He and colleague Margret Aldrich drove around St. Paul on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016 to refill little libraries that have recently experienced wholesale theft. (Pioneer Press: Julio Ojeda-Zapata)

Bethany Gladhill of St. Paul chats with Zach Wegner and Margret Aldrich of the Little Book Library organization. The two drove around St. Paul on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016 to refill neighborhood free-book cubbies that have recently experienced wholesale theft. Gladhill of the Summit Hill neighborhood has been one such victim. (Pioneer Press: Julio Ojeda-Zapata)

Bethany Gladhill of St. Paul talks about her Summit Hill neighborhood with Margret Aldrich and Zach Wegner of the Little Book Library organization. The staffers drove around St. Paul on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016 to refill neighborhood free-book cubbies that have recently experienced wholesale theft. Gladhill briefly shut down her little library after more than a dozen recent thefts, but reactivated it after the Aldrich and Wagner stopped by to replenish the book nook. (Pioneer Press: Julio Ojeda-Zapata)

Zach Wegner of the Little Book Library organization shows off the placard and stamping kit the group gives its book-cubbie members as a means for discouraging wholesale theft, which has recently flared up in the Twin Cities. He and colleague Margret Aldrich drove around St. Paul on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016 to refill little libraries that have recently been cleaned out. (Pioneer Press: Julio Ojeda-Zapata)

Debbie Erstad Donnelly shows off her shiny new Little Book Library placard while Margreet Aldrich of the Little Book Library organization takes a picture. Aldrich and colleague Zach Wegner filled up Donnelly's neighborhood free-book cubbie on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016, after it was cleaned out by a thief or thieves. (Pioneer Press: Julio Ojeda-Zapata)

Debbie Erstad Donnelly looks on as Margret Aldrich and Zach Wegner of the Little Book Library organization fill her neighborhood free-book cubbie with donated volumes on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016. Donnelly is among a host of little-library owners who have experienced wholesale theft. (Pioneer Press: Julio Ojeda-Zapata)

Debbie Erstad Donnelly of St. Paul, left, chats with Margret Aldrich and Zach Wegner (not shown) of the Little Book Library organization on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016. The nonprofit's staffers drove around the city to refill free-book cubbies belonging to Donnelly and others after the structures were cleaned out by thieves. (Pioneer Press: Julio Ojeda-Zapata)

Stamping the books — often inside the front cover or on the first page — is said to be critical, based on the assumption that the volumes are being stolen to be sold off at places like Half-Price Books.

The Dallas-based used-book store chain said it has trained its staffers to turn away people who attempt to offer clearly stamped volumes.

It is “definitely something we know about,” said Half-Price Books spokeswoman Emily Bruce. “We do not buy those books.”

Not every Little Free Library user has one of Bol’s stamping kits, but Bruce said the books can be labeled in a wide variety of ways with a bit of do-it-yourself creativity. Just do it, she emphasized.

Christopher Ferguson confirms on Facebook that this works: “I always take a Sharpie and write ‘This book belongs in a little free library’ on the inside of the front cover. Half Price Books refuses to take them then.”

‘THEY’RE WORTH NOTHING’

Besides, many have noted, for the thieves, selling books at Half-Price Books verges on pointless.

Bethany Gladhill and Patrick Rhone of St. Paul left this sign on their Little Book Library after the cubbie was cleaned out by thieves more than a dozen times in recent weeks. (Pioneer Press: Julio Ojeda-Zapata)

St. Paul resident Debbie Erstad Donnelly received her cubby from a Little Free Library-obsessed aunt as a wedding gift three years ago. Donnelly’s cubby includes a smaller space for children’s books along with a larger adult-book section.

“I kept it stocked and neighbors kept it stocked,” Donnelly said. “It was fun to see people dropping stuff off. It was just a fun, fun, silent secret-Santa thing.”

Late last week, however, Donnelly and her husband, Clark, awoke to find the large and small cubbies cleaned out, except for a few magazines.

“We were just sad,” the Summit-Hill resident noted. “We were just disappointed that someone would take advantage like that.”

She did wonder whether the books might have been taken by needy, desperate people, and pondered whether her library might need to be repurposed as a station for free food or other necessities. Other St. Paulites have been known to put out canned goods with books in their cubbies.

“I wanted to respond in a way that is compassionate, but I did put out more books afterward,” Donnelly said.

BOOK THIEVES SPOTTED

Residents have, in some cases, spotted the book thieves.

“I did witness an individual pulling up to one in the rain, dashing out of the car, scooping all books out of LFL, tossing them in the back of their car, and dashing away,” a Mac-Groveland page member posted. “Crazy.”

Another Facebook user said: “My Little Free Library has been totally cleaned out numerous times. The last time it happened, I actually saw the man who drove up and emptied it. I called out to him as he scampered to his car with all the books, ‘Well, did you at least leave one?’ He just drove away.”

Sue O’Neill wrote on the Merriam Park/Union Park Neighbors page that “I saw a gray-haired gentleman empty one in Highland this past weekend. I could not get to the door fast enough to say anything. He was moving at a good clip.”

Molly Rose Skoglund Blum wrote on the Merriam Park page that her nook has been cleared out twice. On one occasion, “a white male, age 40-50s pulled up in a white Pontiac and took every single book,” she said. “Our neighbors’ LFL was emptied two days ago. We both restocked the libraries and came home today to empty LFLs yet again. What a creep!”

At times it seems like the forces of evil and good are at war with each other, according to West Seventh page member Paula Faughender: “Ours has emptied overnight on several occasions. By whom, I can’t say. It’s also FILLED overnight, more than once, which is pretty cool.”

Former newspaper columnist Nick Coleman, who founded the Merriam Park page on Facebook and witnessed one library heist not long ago, said such recurring thievery is a longstanding problem in St. Paul.

The cubbies “are obvious targets for morons and troublemakers,” he noted. “It depends so much on goodwill and good citizenship that it’s a ripe target for abuse.”

Julio's Pioneer Press duties include writing, often about tech, and helping manage the paper's website and social media. He also uses virtual-reality cameras and other tech tools to commit journalism. In his spare time, Julio writes for the TidBITS Apple-news site, where he is a contributing editor. See his blog at ojezap.com.

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